strut like you mean it ~ barcelona!

Barcelona. Every time I told someone I was studying abroad Barcelona was their first suggestion on places to go. So I took that into consideration and we booked our trip to Barcelona! What a fantastic trip it was! I have to say out of all the trip we've taken so far, this has been the one that has felt the most like a vacation. And that's because it included BEACH TIME. Although the Spaniards like to REALLY strut their stuff we decided to tan/swim the old American way! I saw so many amazing architectural structures and marveled endlessly through the Park Guell (my favorite part). Here's a look at what we saw:

Rome-ing around Italy

Italy. What a beautiful, beautiful country. I spend a lot of time reminding people that I am part Italian. I will probably do more often due to the outstanding food Italy offers. We booked a substantial amount of time in Italy and so we decided to check out as much of the country that we could. Based on the way the prices were going, the cheapest place to land for our dates and location was Pisa. We knew that basically the only thing worth seeing in Pisa was the Leaning Tower and therefore we immediately took a train to Florence. My favorite city in Italy so far, Florence (Firenze) was easy to explore. I really enjoyed walking around the markets, which were placed alongside buildings of grand architecture. As Deirdre, Molly, Elisabeth, and I were attempting to make our way to the David, we stumbled upon what is my favorite cathedral in Europe to date, the Duomo. We noted this magnificent building and promised ourselves we would return the next morning when it was open. Italy absolutely never disappoints in all things food related. I believe we started off with a bang and ordered some sort of pasta dish for dinner. Of course, gelato was the perfect was to end the evening and we figured we would rest up for our early morning the next day. We found ourselves back at the Duomo and decided to climb to the top of the tower. There are two things you can climb at the Duomo, the dome or the tower. By climbing the tower, we thought that we would get the same breathtaking views while also being able to capture the dome itself in our pictures. Although climbing the tower became a bit tight at certain spots, the view was absolutely worth it. One of the finest joys was the non-committal we felt in doing things at certain times. We wandered around the city on our own time, picking and choosing the streets and avenues we wished to walk down. Here are some images from Pisa and Florence:

   
Left: Me "holding" up the Leaning Tower of Pisa

Above: Elisabeth and me at a cafe in Pisa

Elisabeth, Molly, and me in front of the Duomo

Great view of the dome of the Duomo

Florence

The dome of the Duomo

After exploring Florence at bit more, we took the train to Cinque Terre. We finally arrived in this beautiful Italian town on the coast. Even though we had a short amount of time there we, again, ate some glorious food and enjoyed our surroundings a lot. After catching the train going the wrong way and then fixing our mistake we were finally on our way to ROMA!!! Of course nothing is easy when you're in a different country and inevitably we showed up a few hours late. Meeting times were moved and by the grace of God (literally thanks, Sister at the Vatican!) we managed to locate our tickets for Easter Sunday Mass as well as our lovely tour guide - Paul! Paul is a friend of Elisabeth's and Deirdre's who's studying abroad in Rome and showed us around all the tourist attractions with precision. Easter Mass was absolutely breathtaking, a complete wonder. It was all the more special that it was Pope Francis' first Easter Vigil! Here are some picture from the rest of our stay: